6 restorative yoga poses for healing a broken heart

I first fell in love with yin yoga after losing mobility in my right arm. All of the down dogs and warriors were no longer agreeing with me. What really struck a core though, was holding the poses for a longer period of time, and be honest with my  emotions. Yoga taught me how to sit in my feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly.

This being the hallmark holiday month of Valentine’s day, it can be amazing for some and downright disheartening for others. No matter where you are for 2013, my wish for you is for you to have practical tools to infuse more love for yourself. Below are 6 restorative poses that I practice regularly. As I work with grief on a daily basis, this helps me clear whatever is not serving me at the end of my day. My wish for you is that this will help keep your heart open, wherever you are in your life. As I truly believe that loss is not just about death, inevitably, there is going to be some things that comes across our paths that will make our hearts sink a little. What better time to pull out these poses at the end of your day, and spend a bit of the unwinding going inward.

I am not a yogi by any means, so here is my disclaimer. If you are not a regular yoga devotee, please seek advice from a yogi near you before trying this at home . I’ve also included links to some websites below that has directions to each pose. And if you are in the Los Angeles, I have a shout out for 2 of my favorite yin yoga yogis Michelle Kronenberg and Denise Kaufman.

 

1. Lotus pose. This is an opening pose. Hold for as long as you can. Allow for stored, unaddressed emotions to come out. Read more about it here. http://yogastorytelling.com/lotus-posepadmasana/

2. Forward pose. This pose is very healing, helps with the heart chakra.  More heart chakra poses can be found here. http://prairieyoga.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ExploringTheChakras.pdf

3. Legs up against the wall.  This pose gets the blood flowing the organs in our body that needs it the most. Especially good when we are grieving. http://healthylittlebit.com/just-one-yin-yoga-pose/

4. Sphinx pose. This pose helps open your chest, and your heart. It helps you toe be receptive to the feelings around your heart. http://diaryofayogi.blogspot.com/2011/04/finding-strength-within-when-you-dont.html

5. Locust pose. Helps clear blocked emotions. You can read more about the sequence here. http://en.yasminyoga.com/day-58-dealing-with-grief/

6. Childs pose. Helps surrender into the grief, calms the nervous system. It is a healing way to end this series,  closing out the outside for a bit and relax, retreat, surrender. 

 

Grief Tonic

I’ve posted this a while back….and here it is again, an amazing resource from Laura Plumb about her grief tonic.  Grief affects all parts of us, and it is so yummy to be able to pour some love back into our body temple (literally) I bought some honey dates from farmers this week that I will be trying in one of her recipes for sleep. Check her out here.
http://food-alovestory.com/2012/12/18/grief-tonic/

 

I hope this week’s blog brings you peace and more love. I am also running a Valentine’s day gift to yourself love offering this month. Gift yourself and see for yourself how immediate the experience of healing loss can be.

What has been your most healing yoga experience? I would love to hear from you below!

Much love until next week,

xo

claire